Baroque Art - Conversion of Saint Paul

Introduction

The style of Baroque art ran from 1600-1700 and echoed the religious pressures of the period. The meaning of Baroque comes from the Portuguese term "barocco" which means irregular pearl or stone. The desire of the Catholic Church in Rome wanted to reaffirm itself because of the Protestant Reformation. Many of the Royal Courts of France, Spain and other places commissioned a large number of paintings, architectural designs, and sculptures because they needed to strengthen their political positions by glorifying their own divine grandeur. In comparison, Baroque art in Protestant Dutch areas were less religious and were intended to appeal to middle classes. Michelangelo's The Conversion of Saint Paul, Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes, and Peter Paul Rubens' Elevation of the Cross reflect a rich, diverse period of art when religious practices and beliefs, social turmoil and politics prevailed; reflecting lines, tones, movement of figures, loose brushstrokes, and dramatic colors were definitive during the baroque period of art.

Conversion of Saint Paul

Michelangelo Merisi (1573-1610), also known as Caravaggio named after the northern Italian town in Lombardy that he came from, created a new style of painting that had remarkable influence all over Europe (no author, Caravaggio, 2001). Michelangelo despised the classical masters drawing tremendous criticism from many of his fellow artists. Giovanni Pietro Bellori was an influential critic that felt Caravaggio's refusal to immolate his predecessors would threaten the tradition of Italian painting. Caravaggio was arrogant, rebellious and a murderer and his stormy life channeled into the drama of his works. His paintings were provocative, well liked, and very influential over generations of painters throughout Europe (www.artlex.com). At the age of 21 he moved to Rome and in 1595 he received his first commissions. In the Conversion of Saint Paul, he used perspective and a chiaroscuro so he could bring in as close as possible to scene's action and space. This piece was painted for the Cerasi Chapel in the Roman Church of Santa Maria del Popolo (www.artlex.com). The low horizon line gives the sense of inclusion for the viewer and the presentation on the chapel wall was low at the viewer's eye level. The light on the figures seems to come from an unknown source at and is meant for the figures to be moving from the dark side of the background. The contrast of dark and light was a feature of Caravaggio's style that was shocking at first but then fascinated his peers. The use of the dark settings that enveloped their occupants had an influence in European art. The light used in this piece is a blinding flash that symbolized Paul's conversion (Frank, 2011). Caravaggio used light and darkness and the use of radical chiaroscuro created a sense of emotional realism that was too strong for some of the people.

Judith Slaying Holofernes

The artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was greatly influenced by Caravaggio's naturalism and drama. She was the daughter of a well-known artist Orazio Gentileschi (Frank, 2011). She was one of the first of women artists to receive recognition in the male-dominated world of art. She received her early training from